I pulled her down beside us, stroking the half-exposed limb which protruded from her dressing gown. She too had taken off her things.
«Haven’t you got something for me to slip into too?» I asked, looking from one to the other.
«Why certainly,» said Irma, springing to her feet with alacrity.
«Oh, don’t pamper him like that,» said Dolores, with a pouting smile. «That’s just what he loves… he wants to be made a fuss over. And then he’s going to tell us how faithful he is to his wife.»
«She’s not my wife yet,» I said tauntingly, accepting the robe which Irma offered me.
«Oh, isn’t she?» said Dolores. «Well, then it’s worse.»
«Worse, what do you mean worse? I haven’t done anything yet, have I?»
«No, but you’re going to try.»
«You mean you’d like me to. Don’t be impatient… you’ll get your chance.»
«Not with me,» said Dolores, «I’m going to bed. You two can do what you like.»
For answer I closed the door and started undressing. When I returned I found Dolores stretched out on the couch and Irma sitting by her side with legs crossed, fully exposed.
«Don’t mind anything she says,» said Irma. «She likes you just as much as I do… maybe more. She doesn’t like Mona, that’s all.»
«Is that true?» I looked from Irma to Dolores. The latter was silent, but it was a silence which meant affirmation. (
«I don’t know why you should feel so strongly about her,» I hastened to continue. «She’s never done anything to you. And you can’t be jealous of her because… well, because you weren’t in love with me… then.»
«Then? What do you mean? I was never in love with you, thank God!» said Dolores.
«It doesn’t sound very convincing,» said Irma playfully. «Listen, if you never loved him don’t be so passionate about it.» She turned to me and in her blithe way she said: «Why don’t you kiss her and stop this nonsense?»
«All right, I will,» said I, and with that I bent over and embraced Dolores. At first she held her lips firmly shut, looking at me defiantly. Then, little by little, she surrendered, and when at last she pulled away she was biting my lips. As she pulled her lips ” away she gave me a little shove. «Get him out of here!» she said. I gave her a look of reproach in which there was an element of pity and disgust. She became at once repentant and yielding again. I bent over her again, tenderly this time, and as I slipped my tongue into her mouth I put my hand between her legs. She tried to push my hand away but the effort was too much.
«Whew! it’s getting close,» I heard Irma say, and then she pulled me away. «I’m here too, don’t forget.» She was offering her lips and breasts.
It was getting to be a tug of war. I jumped up to pour myself a drink. The bath robe stood out like a stretched tent.
«Do you have to show us that?» said Dolores, pretending to be embarrassed.
«I don’t have to but I will, since you ask for it,» I said, drawing the robe back and exposing myself completely.
Dolores turned her head to the wall, mumbling something in a pseudo-hysterical voice about «disgusting and obscene». Irma on the other hand looked at it good-humoredly. Finally she reached for it and squeezed it gently. As she stood up to accept the drink I had poured for her I opened her robe and placed my cock between her legs. We drank together with my cock knocking at the stable door.
«I want a drink too,» said Dolores petulantly. We turned round simultaneously and faced her. Her face was scarlet, her eyes big and bright, as through she had put belladonna in them. «You look debauched,» she said, her eyes switching back and forth from Irma to me.
I handed her the glass and she took a deep draught of it. She was struggling to obtain that freedom which Irma flaunted like a flag.
Her voice came challengingly now. «Why don’t you do it and get done with it?» she said, flinging her words at us. In wriggling about she had uncovered herself; she knew it too and made no effort to hide her nakedness.
«Lie down there,» I said, pushing Irma gently back on the divan.
Irma took my hand and pulled. «You lie down too,» she said.
I raised the glass to my lips and as it was slipping down my throat the light went out. I heard Dolores saying—«No, don’t do that, please!» But the light remained out and as I stood there finishing the drink I felt Irma’s hand on my prick, squeezing it convulsively. I put the glass down and jumped in between them. Almost at once they closed in on me. Dolores was kissing me passionately and Irma, like a cat, had crouched down and fastened her mouth on my prick. It was an agonizing bliss which lasted for a few seconds and then I exploded in Irma’s mouth.
When I arrived at Riverside Drive it was almost dawn. Mona had not returned. I lay listening for her step. I began to fear that she had met with an accident—worse, that perhaps she had killed herself, or tried to, at least. It was possible too that she had gone home to her parents. But then why had she left the cab? Perhaps to run to the subway. But then the subway was not in that direction. I could of course telephone her home, but I knew she would interpret that badly. I wondered if she had telephoned during the night. Neither Rebecca or Arthur ever bothered to leave a message for me; they always waited until they saw me.
Towards eight o’clock I knocked at their door. They were still asleep. I had to knock loudly before they answered. And then I learned nothing—they had come home very late themselves.
In despair I went to Kronski’s room. He too was muffled in sleep. He didn’t seem to know what I was driving at.
Finally he said: «What’s the matter—has she been out all night again? No, there wasn’t any call for you. Get out of here… leave me alone!»
I hadn’t slept a wink. I felt exhausted. But then the reassuring thought came to me that she might telephone me at the office. I almost expected a message to be lying on my desk waiting for me.
Most of the day went by in taking cat naps. I slept at my desk, my head buried in my folded arms. Several times I called Rebecca to see if she had received any message, but it was always the same answer. When it came time to close shop I lingered on. No matter what had happened, I could not believe that she would let the day pass without telephoning me. It was just incredible.
A strange, nervous vitality possessed me. Suddenly I was wide awake, more wide awake than I could have been had I rested three days in bed. I would wait another half hour and if she didn’t phone I would go directly to her home.
As I was pacing back and forth with pantherish strides the stairway door opened and a little shaver with dark skin entered. He closed the door behind him quickly as if he were shutting out a pursuer. There was something jolly and mysterious about him which his Cuban voice exaggerated.
«You will give me a job, won’t you, Mr. Miller?» he burst out. «I must have the messenger job to complete my studies. Everybody tells me that you are a kind man—and I can see it myself—you have a good face. I am proficient in many things, as you will discover when you know me better. Juan Rico is my name. I am eighteen years old. I am a poet too.»
«Well, well,» I said, chuckling and stroking him under the chin—he was the size of a midget and looked like one—«so you’re a poet? Then I’m surely going to give you a job.»
«I’m an acrobat too,» he said. «My father had a circus once. You will find me very speedy on my legs. I love to go hither and about with zest and alacrity. I am also extremely courteous and when delivering a message I would say, ‘Thank you sir’, and doff my cap respectfully. I know all the streets by heart, including the Bronx. And if you would put me in the Spanish neighborhood you would find me very effective. Do I please you, sir?» He gave me a bewitching grin which implied that he knew very well how to sell himself.
«Go over there and sit down,» I said. «I’ll give you a blank to fill out. To-morrow morning you can start in bright and early—with a smile.»
«Oh I can smile, sir—beautifully,» and he did.
«You’re sure you’re eighteen?»
«Oh yes, sir, that I can prove. I have all my papers with me.»
I gave him an application blank and went to the adjoining room—the rink—to leave him in peace. Suddenly the telephone rang. I bounded back to the desk and picked up the receiver. It was Mona speaking, in a subdued, restrained, unnatural voice, as though she had been drained hollow.
«He died a little while ago,» she said. «I’ve been at his side ever since I left you…»
I mumbled some inadequate words of consolation and then I asked her when she was coming back. She wasn’t sure just when, she wanted me to do her a little favor… to go to the department
